When furniture, such as cabinets, for example, has movable parts, such as doors, those movable parts are often mounted to the main furniture member using a movable member such as a hinge. While hinges are known in the art, there are some problems associated with conventional hinges that the present invention seeks to solve.
One problem is that because a majority of the components of conventional hinges are made of metal, and the metal components come into mechanical and frictional contact with one another, there can be a significant amount of noise associated with the operation of the hinge during use. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a hinge having a member that reduces the noise otherwise associated with the hinge operation.
Another problem is that hinges whose control cam or hinge pin is spring activated tend to experience spring breakage over time due to the high spring loads required to produce the opening and closing forces during hinge operation. This usually leads to hinge replacement as a whole, which can be costly and inconvenient. Accordingly, it would be desirable that to provide a hinge having a spring that is not readily susceptible to such breakage, and which facilitates a longer functional life of the hinge.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,689,402 discloses a furniture hinge including plastic sliding members that fit over the ends of each spring leg to engage the spring on the interior surface and the control cam on the exterior surface. While this solution may alleviate some frictional issues and allegedly prolong the spring life, it is clear that separate sliding members are required for each individual spring leg of the hinge. Not only does this require multiple pieces, but preferably according to the '402 patent, additional lubrication means is provided within interior portions of the sliding members. All of factors increase the cost and complicate the steps for fabrication and installation of the hinge.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide a hinge that effectively and simultaneously reduces the noise associated with hinge operation and prolongs the spring life without adding multiple additional parts or increasing the cost and the difficulty of the steps associated with the fabrication and installation of the hinge.